My Happily Ever After

I was born on November 9th 1982 to my mother and father, in Pennsylvania. They had gotten married shortly after finding out that I was expected, and did what they had to to get by. They lived in the basement of my grandparents house for the longest time. A year or so after I was born, they were expecting again, and on July 4th 1984, my brother was born. Shortly after this, my parents began having problems again. They were constantly fighting and arguing, and just couldn't agree on anything. Then my dad started fooling around, and took things a little farther than he should've. When I was three, my mom was ready to move with my brother and me to her parents house. When she came to pick us up, my dad had changed the locks on the door and kept telling her to go away and leave us alone. He had me calling her all kinds of names such as, a big scary monster, a b****, and much more. She was finally able to get us out of there one afternoon when my dad went to work, and my grandparents were taking care of us. They were more than happy to have her take us rather than my dad trying to care for us.

When I was five, I began preschool/kindergarten. I went to a school in Pennsylvania for about a year or two. From there we moved to Florida and lived in the same house as my aunt. My mom put us in a school there, and then started working again. After a year there, we got a house for Christmas along with a car, and my mom met a pretty decent guy. We ended up moving to Alabama with him due to the fact that he was being stationed there, and asked if we'd all go with him, so we did. After a couple of months there, things slowly fizzled off with them, and my mom got an apartment of her own. We lived in Montgomery, Alabama for about two years, made some great friends, and eventually moved to Millbrook. There I attended 5th and 6th grade. That was a great little town, and I loved it. I had a ton of friends, and my old friends use to come over to visit on the weekends and holidays.

Eventually when I was in the 5th grade, my mom met a guy. He seemed alright at first, but made me feel a little uneasy for some reason. We moved to Prattville with him and his kids, and moved into a beautiful, huge house. Things went great for a while there, but then there were problems with the house and what not, so we moved into another house. We stayed there for about 6 months or so, and if I remember correctly they had some slight financial problems with that place, so they moved into a mobile home. It wasn't bad, there were a lot of people our age there, and I could continue my babysitting jobs. My mom stayed married to him for about a year or so, and then he cheated on her with a sixteen year old girl, and got her pregnant. At that point, we left and moved into our own place.

We stayed in Prattville the rest of the time that we were in Alabama. I went through junior high and high school there, and made some great friends. I even met a guy who I was head over heels for, but not completely in love with. We got engaged, and shortly after I had graduated high school, I found out I was pregnant. I was so happy and so was he. Then at 5 months pregnant, we found out that it was a girl, and things went down hill from there. He didn't want it anymore, and told me that if I gave birth to the child, that he would get rid of her. (that's enough details on that). So, I gave birth to a beautiful little girl in 2002.

I raised her until she was a year old, and then I had some problems with her father, and ended up going to court to sign over temporary custody. I felt this was the only way to keep my little girl safe and alive. Therefore, I asked my mom to help me out, and of course she did. She was more than happy to have me keep her in the family, and with someone who wouldn't allow any harm to come to her. I knew I could trust my mom with my baby. At that point, I tried my best to get as far away from her father as possible so that he couldn't hurt me. After a couple of months of staying with a friend, I had a very close friend who was in the military who had come back home for a week, and he offered me a place to stay once he got wind of what was going on. I accepted it, and he took me to Oklahoma.

We stayed on post for a few months, and then from there we got an apartment. Things were going great for the longest time, but I was restless. I wanted to do something, see something, and/or meet someone. Eventually I made a few military friends, and we all got together each day to hang out, cook out, go out, or whatever else we could come up with. Once my friend lost his apartment due to getting in trouble a few times with his commander due to being late or what not, then I moved in with another friend that I had made. We always had get togethers whether it was 1-2 people or a bunch of people. We'd all go to Six Flags or Grand Central Station on the weekends, and we'd just have a blast.

After a year, I had turned 21, and started hanging out at this one night club where all my friends hung out at. I met a great guy there. His name was Daniel, and we became really great friends. He took me in and helped me get back up on my feet for the most part. We hung out a lot, and he was there for me along the way. I could date and bring guys home, and he'd know right away if they were good or bad for me. I don't know what I would've done without him. Then, a few months later shortly before he got sent out to Korea, I met a guy who I thought was really nice, and wanted the same things as I did. Unfortunately, him and Daniel could never get their schedules to intercept with one another, so they didn't get to meet before I moved in with him. We lived together for about a month, and right before Daniel got sent away, he came by to leave me some money in case of an emergency or something. After that, he warned me about the guy I was seeing and said that he had a bad feeling about him, but wasn't sure how bad of a feeling, and that I should be careful. So, I took his words to heart, and wished him luck.

After about 2-3 months, the guy I was dating, Nate, his grandfather passed on. I was there for him the whole time, and did what I could to keep him happy and not be depressed. After another 2-4 months, we found out I was pregnant. We were excited, but it was a little awkward. He didn't want anyone to know. How do you keep a pregnancy hidden, I mean seriously, you're going to get bigger each month. So, we did the best we could. Then after I was about 5-6 months pregnant, he started getting really crazy. He was constantly angry, out of control, drinking, fighting others and me, and constantly tried attacking me. When I was 8 months pregnant, he busted my head open and wouldn't let me call for help or go to the emergency room. He kept me in the house and I couldn't talk to anyone.

From that moment on, I was pretty much cut off from the outside world. I couldn't talk to my friends or family, couldn't watch cable, couldn't have a phone, and he was constantly abusing me physically, verbally, and mentally. I went through hell with him. I tried getting out once or twice, but each time I did it made things worse, and I couldn't get anywhere. I ended up pregnant again shortly after, due to him constantly forcing himself on top of me. He was cheating on me the whole time, and would sleep with other girls in our bed. He had nothing to do with this pregnancy, and kept trying to take my daughter away from me and threatened to kill both of us. He hit her a couple of times, and if she cried she got abused. It was terrible. I didn't want her or my other one to go through that, so I did what I had to to get out.

When I was 6 months pregnant this time, I convinced him that I was okay with him going on trips and promotions with his job. I had no problem with it. When he was away, I would borrow my neighbor's phone and call my mom, my dad, grandparents, and the police. We all got together and finally found a way to get me out of there without him interfering with our plans. One weekend in June, when he had to leave for 4 days for a promotion in Oklahoma City, my dad drove down and came to get me and my daughter. We got out of there, along with our stuff, and took off to Texas. I told him that I was leaving due to my grandparents being ill and that it was just for a couple of days...that it was a dire emergency. He told me that it was fine, as long as I was back before he got home, and if I wasn't he was coming after me.

Well, I did leave, but I wasn't back by the time he got home. He called, emailed, and had one of his girlfriends call me. I wasn't going back, and I wasn't going to let him find me. I did whatever I had to to keep him from being able to get an address or anything else for us. When our son was born, I gave him the name I had chosen, and went on with my life. He threatened me a few more times by way of email and phone, but I was trying not to let it get to me. After about a month, he finally gave up on us. He continued on with his life, and we continued on with ours.

I then continued living with my dad and grandparents, and after the summer, my dad, the kids, and I moved into an apartment. I lived there with my dad for about a year or so, and then I met the most incredible guy ever. We first started talking online through one of those dating sites, and we hit it off right away. He didn't care that I was older, that I had kids, and he had no problem with my past. We decided to meet after two weeks of talking, and he drove 4 hours to see me. We got together on a Saturday, and went to my friends house. We hung out there, then went to the park, ate McDonald's, went to the Forum, had Starbucks, went bowling, and then took my friends home. From there we went back to my place, and sat in the parking lot for a couple of hours just talking. Then I took the kids and went in to bed.

The next day he called to see if I'd meet with him again before he left to go back home. I told him I would, so we went to the Outlet Mall. He told me that he had a question for me, and he finally asked it. He asked if I would spend a week with him so that we could get to know each other better. I agreed, and we drove back to his place. The week went well, and when he took us back to my dad's, I had found out that after the birthday party for my son was over, that me and the kids had to be out. My dad wanted his other two kids to move in with him, and they couldn't as long as me and the kids were there. So, with no where to go, Rollin offered to stay with us in a hotel. I agreed, and we got some of our clothes and stuff and stayed the night in one.

The next morning when we got up, we drove back to my dad's. When we got there, he was at work. I had the key anyways, so we went in and packed up all of mine and the kids stuff and loaded it up into both cars. Then we drove all the way back to Rollin's house. We stayed there until we all found a home together. Once we did, we moved in and got situated. The first home we found was a temporary thing since it was rent free, then we moved into an apartment long enough for him to do a job in that town, and now we live in a nice home. We may only be here for a year or so, but it's better than moving every 2-4 months due to work. At least here, he doesn't have to worry about that, since his job is here.

He's great with the kids, and loves to play with them and just hang out. He treats us right, and loves us. He's willing to do whatever it takes to make us happy and keep us safe. His family is nice and sweet. He's a hard worker, he's honest, loyal, faithful, committed, trustworthy, and so much more. He definitely has my heart and I am definitely ready to spend the rest of my life with him. I am so happy and for once my feelings for someone are real, and not just a show to keep from being hurt anymore than what I needed to be. We plan on getting engaged within the next couple of months, and hopefully married within the next year. This is definitely Mr. Right, and I know without a doubt that this was meant to be, and that he is definitely my soul mate.

This is definitely my happily ever after. Without him in my life, I don't know where I'd be right now. My kids are happy and so am I, and as far as I'm concerned that's all that matters. As long as everybody's happy, being treated right, and in love, then it's the greatest thing ever. I really feel like I have achieved something here by meeting him, and can honestly say that I love him with all my heart, and always will until the end of time.